James Bretz, Director, Uptime & Connected Services, Volvo Construction Discusses How Telematics Increase Uptime

The role of telematics continues to evolve as the technology progresses and the dealer will play a more important role in the future.

July 21, 2020

James B. Bretz, Director, Uptime & Connected Services, Volvo Construction Equipment, shares his telematics experience and his vision of where we are headed with the technology. Uptime is a concern for every contractor and telematics can help address that concern. Telematics has come a long way and it continues to evolve.

]New Home Sales Maintain Momentum

Pending Sales Index up 45.8% year-over-year in October according to Zonda

Version 2.1 of the robot Spot was recently released.

Construction Site Mobility Robot Spot 2.1 Released

Boston Dynamics has released version 2.1 of its autonomous robot, Spot.

Professional-grade work gloves make the job more comfortable and protect your hands to keep you safer on the jobsite.

5 Tips for Choosing the Best Construction Gloves

Finding the right glove for the job is as important as matching any other tool of the trade to the task at hand.

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AI's Regulatory Guidance and its Potential Effect on the Construction Industry

The White House’s AI Regulatory Guidance, which clarified policies regarding encouraging innovation and growth in artificial intelligence, has potential to provide improvement to the construction industry.

Command Alkon and Libra Systems, Inc. Team Up to Boost Efficiency for Heavy Construction Materials Suppliers

Command Alkon and Libra Systems, Inc. Join Forces

The acquisition of Libra Systems Inc. to Command Alkon enhances plant automation, point-of-sale, enterprise integration, dispatch, and GPS asset management systems and services for customers.

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IntercompWIM and IntercompWIM Delta Software

Easily identify overweight commercial vehicles, document vehicle transactions, and monitor bulk inventory.

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HeidelbergCement $531 Million to Modernize Cement Sites in France

HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Ciments Calcia presented the draft terms of its large-scale investment and reorganisation programme for several of its sites in France.

Dig Assist, which Volvo introduced in North America in 2017, is available on 20 of the company’s medium and large crawler and wheeled excavators.

Volvo Updates Excavator's Dig Assist with New Easy-to-Use Features

The new Volvo Dig Assist is equipped with new user-friendly features that enhance precision, decrease grading time and diagnose and solve issues. The program is available on 20 of the company’s medium and large crawler and wheeled excavators.

Hilti Discusses Robotics in Jobsite Health & Safety

How robotics and human augmentation can effect construction jobsite health and safety through two innovations from HILTI.

5G licenses will enable John Deere to accelerate the availability of 5G in its largest manufacturing facilities in North America.

John Deere to Deploy 5G in Manufacturing Facilities

John Deere has obtained 5G licenses in five counties in Iowa and Illinois as part of a FCC auction for the CBRS 3.5 GHz spectrum.

Zyter has launched its Zyter Smart Logistics system, a secure, customizable solution for logistics companies and enterprise logistics departments that leverages Zyter’s SmartSpaces platform and Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

Zyter Launches Real-Time Vehicle Tracking Technology

Zyter Smart Logistics connects data systems, departments and people to give logistics teams end-to-end, real-time visibility of vehicles and goods in transit while also collecting analytics on driver behavior.

Caterpillar Inc.'s Brian Cain Describes Construction of Cat Trial 9: PAC-MAN™ Gameboard

Brian Cain, demonstrator and instructor at Caterpillar Inc., discusses how the team overcame the challenges behind building the Cat Trial 9 PAC-MAN™ gameboard with Cat 3D™ Grade Control.

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Leica iXE3 3D Excavator Machine Control Offers Semi-automatic Functionality

Semi-automatic functionality provides automatic control of boom, bucket, tilt and tilt rotator bucket.

Agtek Smart Dirt Rtk Press Release 04 2020

AGTEK SmartDirt RTK Turns Smart Phones or Tablets into High-accuracy GPS/GNSS Receivers

App allows high-accuracy cut/fill measurements on Apple or Android phones or tablets for on-site grade checking, drone/UAV ground control point (GCP) set out and site data collection

The robot uses a 3D scanner to measure the floor, then uses two rotating motors equipped with plastering blades to flatten the floor.

AI Robot Can Flatten Concrete Floors, Hyundai Engineering Seeks Patent

Hyundai Engineering is seeking a patent for an AI robot that can flatten concrete floors.

Harvest Profit software helps farmers forecast and measure profitability on a field-by-field basis.

John Deere Buys Software Startup

John Deere acquired Harvest Profit, a leading provider of farm profitability software based in Fargo, North Dakota.

HD-PCI produces a condition rating with more objective data (derived from machine learning algorithms) and factors in the density and severity of each distress present for every square foot of roadway across an entire road network.

RoadBotics HD-PCI Pavement Rating Index Assists in Asset Management

HD-PCI proprietary pavement condition rating index granularity for government officials to make well-informed pavement management decisions, including pothole and road repairs

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TRUX Debuts App to Streamline Dump Truck Operations

TRUX Drive simplifies managing fleets, tracking deliveries and monitoring earnings

To create its rankings, G2’s Grid Report calculates satisfaction and market presence of fleet management software based on reviews collected in 2020, through Sept. 2.

Top Fleet Management Software Programs Ranked in Report

G2, a company that aggregates user reviews for business software, has released its Fall 2020 Grid Report.

Kobelco Partners with Iridium to Enable Global Remote Asset Tracking for Fleet Management

Kobelco Construction Machinery has integrated Iridium's two-way satellite communications into its hydraulic excavators, heavy equipment and the KOMEXS remote asset management platform.

Trimble Earthworks Grade Control version 2.0 features Horizontal Steering Control, which automatically controls the machine to follow any horizontal alignment.

10 Technologies Improving All Aspects of Construction

Emerging technologies are enabling operators to more precisely survey and plan the elements of a construction project, perform various construction tasks, and develop and maintain a vital database of construction fleet data.

The small size and low power requirements of Septentrio's GNSS receiver are well suited to use on robots and other autonomous machines.

Mobile Robot Use Cases Grow in Construction as Technology Advances

Robots are becoming more commonplace in the off-road equipment market as sensor, GPS and other automation-enabling technologies continue to improve.

Bentley Systems Commits $100 Million to Accelerate Infrastructure Digital Twins

Bentley iTwin Ventures will invest in promising technology companies addressing the emerging opportunity for infrastructure digital twin solutions.

Lyons says that the players in Cat Trial 9: PAC-MAN™ represent a diverse group including YouTube gamer Blitz. Lyons says this is critical because future operators and technicians are people who play games today and the company wanted to show gamers that what you can do in the virtual world, you can do in the real world too.

Exclusive Interview with Caterpillar Inc. Creative Director Archie Lyons

Archie Lyons, creative director at Caterpillar, Inc., says that Cat Trial 9: PAC-MAN™ was a great way to celebrate the brands 95th anniversary as well as showcase how the company is working hard to bring automation to the construction industry.

Rosendin employees are able to use virtual reality to train and the company is able to assess them on their performance before they go out into the field.

Gamers Help Rosendin Advance VR and AR Applications

Next generation of tech savvy workers provide a fresh perspective on how 3D technology can be applied to efficiently complete construction projects.

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MSSI MAC Safe-T-Check Modular Access Control Portal

Automated wall-mounted thermal imaging system quickly and reliably screens skin temperature before allowing entry into a work site.

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Trimble R12i GNSS Receiver

IMU-based tilt compensation using TIP technology enables points to be measured or staked out while the survey rod is tilted.